Thread: Cars as an Investment?

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I read an article where a guy posed the question, "Will collector cars continue to be a good investment?" Now he was talking about the high end, vintage cars that we see at Pebble Beach, but I thing his thought process applies to our hobby cars, too.

When I was in high school and college in the late ‘40s, early ‘50s, a car was the centerpiece of a young man’s life. Chevy, Ford and Plymouth – they were all good and created lifelong memories. Then, when you drove your car to Monterey and heard an Jaguar XK120 boom through the old Pebble Beach circuit, you knew where your life was headed.
Much later, MGBs, Mustangs, Camaros, 914s, GTVs and 240Zs were important to us. And now that we have some money, we’re only too happy to write a big check to buy a memory.
Today, kids don’t care about cars. The sound system is more important than the car it’s installed in. So they won’t have significant memories of cars as they get older. And they won’t have any urge to acquire the dream cars of a much older generation.

He also pointed out that the younger generation will have a hard time paying the tab for a collection of cars, including the "value", storage space, utilities, insurance, etc when that money could be invested in other places to create income.

We've already witnessed a transition, where restored Model A's were all the rage ten to twenty years ago, but as the generation of the teens to twenties aged the value of vintage Model A's dropped like a rock. Is the same about to happen to the hot rods we enjoy? And how long before it affects the muscle cars of the "boomer generation"? As an example, I was at a local cruise Saturday where some guy had a blinged out late model 'vette that was literally shaking at the curb with the thundering bass and twang of his "music". It was so loud that walking by you needed ear plugs, and it was getting faaaar to much attention from the under '30 crowd. I fear that the guy may be right....

I think for the most part your on the right track but there will always be someone with more money than most and have an enjoyment of all things automotive. Someone like Jay Leno for instance. I think those guys will always be there..

Then down on "our" level.. I think there will always be the guys who appreciate these cars even if they are younger, there will probably be less of them overall, but I don't think "car guys" are going away.

And since the poverty level ranks have swollen again sadly... I guess this will influence builds in general. How can you overhaul everything or buy new parts when you're trying to feed yourself and / or a family? So I think less cars will be getting finished or started at all and that will influence values at "our" level.

Well, that's my opinion.. that and 2 bucks will get you a small coffee! LOL.. 8-)

The 76 Vette I bought had a sound system installed, took a lot of time to pull it out, but the fuel gauge doesn't work and the alignment's off amongst other things. It was loud though. A lot of little things wrong, but we had noise. My 40 and 36 didn't have a radio, go figure.

This is always a question that brings up some interesting answers. There are just a ton of variables that come into play; the vehicle you choose, your level of investment and if you are looking short term or long term.

Personally I feel as long people in this country are allowed to have personal transportation powered by internal combustion engines that the market for collector/hobby cars will always be there in some form or the other.

As far as an INVESTMENT the car market has always been volatile, a couple of examples that come to mind are the bubbles in the late 80s early 90s and the one from about 2005-2008. The market can expand quickly but disappear in the blink of an eye leaving “investors” holding on to something that is now worth 10 cents on the dollar that they paid for it. If their timing is good they can make good money, if not oh well. That hold true for both the small hobby guy or the multi-million dollar collector. Long term, (and I’m talking 15-20 years) desirable cars seem to at least keep up with inflation. There is also good money to be made picking up cars on a desperation sell that can be quickly turned around. Looking at it is an investment that you plan on getting out of in say 5 or 10 years can be a pretty risky proposition, especially if you don’t have the ability to hold on to it should the market be in a slump when you want to sell.

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my business has been tied to this for the last 25 years. streetrods as we know them went flat over 5 years ago. they lost about 30% of value . highend cars or cars with history fall into a different place. the tri5's are next to fall . it is predicted they will loose about 10-15% over the next 5 years. this would not include the survivors or high end restorations of ht's , convertibles and such. pick ups remain strong for some reason. i have taped and studied the various auctions over the last 10 years or so to try and understand the collectors . they set the stage. my decision to shut down and stick with early vette restomods was mostly due to that. it's a strong market with better returns than restored originals. sadly our pre49 hotrods are going to sink to the 20k range in a few years. just too many for sale.
but a good collectible car that appreciates at 8-10% a year beats hell out of a cd at.03% or stocks that tank to 0 .

If ya want to make a small fortune is this hot rod world,
Start with big one.

no truer words......................

I come from the side that is looking in to what he's saying. He could be right. I don't know many people my age or younger that are die hard into rods or cars of any kind. We're out there, but not in the numbers you baby boomers are. I'm hoping that some day themuscle car market comes down to reasonable values and thenI can buy a couple done cars instead of piecing them together when I have the cash.

What do you think of this one for an investment?

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i went back to my first true love in cars. always made good money and enjoyed building them . just enjoy the restomod cars more and they bring top shelf money. this market is still holding strong.

Ahhhhh, a 57. As I remember, they made 6339 of them. My room mate in college bought one for $800. The danged car had a really neat ability to get girls to stand up while the car was moving and take their top off (theirs, not the car). I could never get that to happen in a Camaro.